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PHILADELPHIA – Strong pitching performances propelled the University of Pennsylvania softball team in Wednesday’s Ivy doubleheader against Brown at Penn Park. The Quakers swept the Bears by scores of 8-0 and 5-3 to move into second place, behind Cornell, in the South Division of the Ivy League with a record of 4-3.

With her second shutout of the season, Borden set the tone early in game one, striking out Brown’s lead-off batter, Casey Fisher. The Penn defense went right to work to get the following two outs, allowing the Bears to notch one hit that inning. Brown was only able to record one more hit in the first game which came in the third.

The bats went flying right out of the gate for the Quakers, as lead-off junior tri-captain Sydney Turchin singled to right center which was followed by a bunt single from sophomore Kanani Datan. With the two runners on, senior tri-captain Elysse Gorney took a note out of Turchin’s book and placed the ball almost in the exact location, knocking her in for the 1-0 lead. On a groundout from freshman Alexis Sargent, Datan made it home safely for the 2-0 lead.

Borden added two more strikeouts in the next inning to quickly get the Red and Blue bats back at the plate.

With two outs and two on in the bottom of the second, it seemed as if the Quakers has picked a spot out on the field to continuously hit to as Datan added a fourth single to right center which knocked in two runs to extend the Red and Blue’s lead to 4-0. (Out of the 10 hits Penn recorded on the day, five of them were singles to right center.)

Penn pulled further away in the bottom of the fourth as the Quakers put up three more runs. With one out, Gorney advanced to third on the throw after she doubled to the wall, totaling 3 RBI that inning and four overall. At the end of the game, she finished with half of the team’s runs scored which was the most RBI by a single player in either game.

The Red and Blue defense shut down the Bears for one last time in the top of the fifth as one final run in the bottom half ended the game early.

Just like in the game against Temple, senior Kayla Dahlerbruch put on the finishing touches with a walk-off single to right center, knocking freshman runner Lainey Dorris in to end the game at 8-0.

In game one, Datan went 3-for-3 at the plate, while Dahlerbruch and Gorney were 2-for-3.

Freshman Alexis Sargent continued where Borden left off, forcing Brown’s first three batters to ground out.

The Red and Blue once again got on the board first, scoring their first three runs of the game on errors made by Brown -- Sydney Turchin came in with the first run after an error at the plate by Bear catcher Alex Scott. With Elysse Gorney on third, freshman Leah Allen doubled up the middle and an error by Bear left fielder Kelsey Williams allowed her and Gorney to score.

It was another quick 1-2-3 top half in the second, but the Bears weren’t going down that easy each time. In the third, Brown went on a short stint and recorded two hits in a row with a single up the middle from Julia Schoenewald and a bunt single from Lauren Hanna. Staying calm, Sargent buckled down and got Penn out of its first sticky bind, making the next two batters ground out to end the inning.

In the bottom half of the third, Allen made her way across the plate again for what would ultimately be the winning run of the game. An insurance run was added to the board by Turchin in the bottom of the fourth.

Penn hit cruise control going into the top of the fifth with a 5-0 lead. However, Brown put Sargent in a second sticky situation as the Bears loaded the bases with no outs. Back at the top of the order, the Quakers tallied two outs – a fly out to left field and a pop up to short – but Brown’s Christina Andrews was able to capitalize on the opportunity with a single to right field and knocked in the Bear’s first two runs. They wouldn’t score any more that inning but found their way across the plate one more time in the top of the seventh.

Sargent left the game in the top of seven and was relieved by fellow freshman pitcher Courtney Cuzick with two outs and two on in scoring position. The Bears scored their final run on a passed ball but the Red and Blue defense held them off from scoring anymore and recorded the third out on a fly out to short.

In game two, senior Kayla Dahlerbruch went 2-for3 at the plate, while Allen also went 2-for-3 at the plate and notched 2 RBI. The Quakers’ sweep over Brown was their third in a row and their fourth in the past five meetings.

The Red and Blue will be back in action at Penn Park this weekend to open Ivy South Division play with Cornell in a doubleheader on Saturday and Sunday. First pitch for both days is set for 12:30 p.m.